James 4:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
James 4:11
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
a performer · noun — nominative singular masculine
law
νόμουnomou
G3551
law (through the idea of prescriptive usage) · noun — genitive singular masculine
but
ἀλλὰalla
G235
properly · conjunction
judge
κριτής.kritēs
G2923
a judge (genitive case or specially) · noun — nominative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
Romans 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou…
James 5:9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Psalms 140:11 Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
Romans 14:10-12 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on James 4:11–end
In this part of the chapter,
I. We are cautioned against the sin of evil-speaking: Speak not evil one of another, brethren, Jam 4:11. The Greek word, katalaleite, signifies speaking any thing that may hurt or injure another; we must not speak evil things of others, though they be true, unless we be called to it, and there be some necessary occasion for the; much less must we report evil things when they are false, or, for aught we know, may be so. Our lips must be guided by the law of kindness, as well as truth and justice. This, which Solomon makes a necessary part of the character of his virtuous woman, that she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness (Pro 3…
Having mentioned sins of the tongue (Jam 3:5-12), he shows here that evil-speaking flows from the same spirit of exalting self at the expense of one's neighbor as caused the "fightings" reprobated in this chapter (Jam 4:1).
Speak not evil--literally, "Speak not against" one another.
brethren--implying the inconsistency of such depreciatory speaking of one another in brethren.
speaketh evil of the law--for the law in commanding, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" (Jam 2:8), virtually condemns evil-speaking and judging [ESTIUS]. Those who superciliously condemn the acts and words of others which do not please themselves, thus aiming at the reputation of sanctity, put their own moroseness in…
Speak not evil one of another - Perhaps this exhortation refers to evil speaking, slander, and backbiting in general, the writer having no particular persons in view. It may, however, refer to the contentions among the zealots, and different factions then prevailing among this wretched people, or to their calumnies against those of their brethren who had embraced the Christian faith.
He that speaketh evil of his brother - It was an avowed and very general maxim among the rabbins, that "no one could speak evil of his brother without denying God, and becoming an atheist." They consider detraction as the devil's crime originally: he calumniated God Almighty in the words, "He doth know that in t…
The Church Fathers
Do not slander one another, my brothers. This vice of slander looks to the deadly venom of the tongue, about which it is said: You quarrel and fight.
Every wicked act dulls the sense of our thoughts and gives birth to arrogance. For although it is necessary for each one to examine himself and behave according to God's will, many people do not do this but prefer to mind the business of others. If they happen to see others suffering, it seems that they forget their own weaknesses and set about criticizing them and slandering them. They condemn them, not knowing that they suffer from the same things as the people they have criticized, and in so doing they condemn themselves. The wise Paul writes exactly the same thing: "If you judge another in something, you condemn yourself, for the one who judges does the same things."
He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law. He slanders the law who slanders a brother, as if it were not right for it to have forbidden slander, saying through the Prophet: "I pursued the one who secretly slanders his neighbor" (Psalm 101). And in Leviticus: "You shall not be a slanderer, nor a whisperer among the people" (Leviticus 19). It can also be understood this way: He who slanders a brother who is obeying the law, slanders the law and judges the law that gave such commands. For instance, the law commanded, saying: "You shall not remember the wrongs of your fellow citizens." Therefore, he who slanders a brother and judges a brother whom he sees willingly accepting injuries for the love of God, certainly slanders the law and judges the law that commanded us to forget wrongs.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Evil-speaking — Is expressly forbidden (Titus 3:2; James 4:11), and severe punishments are denounced against it (1 Cor. 5:11; 6:10). It is spoken of also with abhorrence (Ps. 15:3; Prov. 18:6, 7), and is foreign to…
Persecution — The first great persecution for religious opinion of which we have any record was that which broke out against the worshippers of God among the Jews in the days of Ahab, when that king, at the…
Charitableness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Doer · 8:11; — 8:11;
Slander · Forbidden — Forbidden
Speaking · 1:29,30;3:13,14; — 1:29,30;3:13,14;
Uncharitableness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Speak not evil one of another, brethren,.... The apostle here returns to his former subject, concerning the vices of the tongue, he had been upon in the preceding chapter, James 3:6, and here mentions one, which professors of religion were too much guilty of, and that is, speaking evil one of another; which is done either by raising false reports, and bringing false charges; or by aggravating failings and infirmities; or by lessening and depreciating characters, and endeavouring to bring others into discredit and disesteem among men: this is a very great evil, and what the men of the world do, and from them it is expected; but for the saints to speak evil one of another, to sit and speak aga…
James 4:11-12
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
11 Ne detrahatis invicem, fratres; qui detrahit fratri, aut judicat fratrem suum, detrahit legi, et judicat legem; si autem judicas legem, non es factor legis sed judex.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
12 Unus est legislator, qui potest servare et perdere: tu, quis es qui judicas alterum?
11 Speak not evil, or, defame not. We see how much labor James takes in correcting the lust for slan…
These verses reflect on Matt 7:1 and Luke 6:37 (see study note on Jas 1:22-23).
4:11 Don’t speak evil against each other: This exhortation for peace in the Christian community requires that Christians not slander each other. Slandering one’s neighbor is the same as slandering God’s law, because the law prohibits slander and demands love for one’s neighbor (2:8; Lev 19:16-18; Matt 7:1-5).
